Mr. Kuroda made a point of saying eight separate times that the BOJ was “only halfway,” or “still halfway” to its 2% inflation target in two years — even when it wasn’t related to the question he was asked. He seemed eager to send a clear signal to markets, that while he’s optimistic inflation is taking hold, he’s not so bullish that he sees any need to scale back stimulus anytime soon.

Mr. Kuroda stressed just how “open-ended” his massive “quantitative-qualitative easing,” or QQE, program is. It will, he said remain in place not just until the inflation target is hit but also until he’s convinced that “2% inflation is maintained in a sustainable, stable way. So our QQE is not calendar based or tied down.”

That said, Mr. Kuroda did nothing to signal he was ready to satisfy investors betting on an imminent new injection. Absent some surprise shock to the economy, the main factor that would likely prompt more action would be evidence that inflation was slipping below the BOJ’s forecast trajectory. They see consumer prices stabilizing at the current level, just over 1%, for “the next several months,” before rising again. For now, Mr. Kuroda seems quite confident in that forecast, even though private forecasters are skeptical.

Talking down the yen’s rise.

The main trigger for the early Abenomics success was the sharp drop in the yen against the dollar. Policymakers seem relatively happy with the currency at current levels, and Mr. Kuroda spins out scenarios of more inflation and growth that don’t rely on more currency weakness.

But recent signs that the yen may be strengthening risk undoing the progress to date, and Mr. Kuroda was surprisingly direct in trying to bat that back. He made a point of noting that, even without more BOJ easing, his stimulus will remain in place for the foreseeable future, while the U.S. Federal Reserve is cutting back — relative positions that would tend to weaken then yen. He added for good measure that while Japan’s economy “is recovering,” it’s “not so strong as the U.S. economy.” In case the point was lost, he added: “in this situation, the yen is not likely to appreciate against the dollar or other developed economy currencies.”

Mr. Kuroda issued the usual caveats — that the BOJ is targeting the inflation rate, not the exchange rate, and that foreign-exchange policy is finance ministry turf. But he also noted that, in a prior life, he was the finance ministry’s top FX diplomat. He knows what he’s saying.

Subtly mulling the exit.

While Mr. Kuroda’s massive easing campaign has shown few side effects so far, many economists worry that the ultimate exit could trigger sharp market disruptions. The Fed has faced such troubles with its exit policy — and the BOJ stimulus is, by some measures, considerably bigger. Mr. Kuroda generally doesn’t like to discuss the subject. It muddies the message that that the ultra-easy money will continue for some time to come. (See points 1 and 2). But, he acknowledged that “inside the bank, we always study many cases and of course possible exit strategies.” He added: “I can assure you that the Federal Reserve’s experience is quite useful to us.”

He noted how the Fed seemed to have improved its communication over the past year, minimizing in recent months the turmoil triggered last year, in Asian emerging economies in particular, when tapering talk first surfaced.

And whenever Mr. Kuroda ultimately does start to wind down his QQE program, he suggested he’d try to play down the significance, and fuzz it up in complex jargon — a sharp contrast with the bold, dramatic way he has marketed his stimulus. He preferred to avoid clear words like “taper” and “exit” in talking about recent Fed action, and said he would rather describe it as “reducing the volume of the asset purchase program, or something like that.” The Fed wasn’t really exiting, he said. “It’s adjusting its huge asset purchase program.”

Japan’s New Economy.

The BOJ forecasts inflation of 1.9% for the fiscal year starting April 2015. The consensus for professional forecasters compiled by the Japan Center for Economic Research is 1.0%.

Mr. Kuroda says they don’t understand changes to the Japanese economy, and how this recovery differs from previous ones. One key factor: “inflation expectations have been gradually rising, particularly among companies and households,” a change in mindset that he believes alters behavior. “But private sector economists don’t change so much about their inflation expectations,” he joked, suggesting they’re behind the curve.

He also stressed said that this expansion “is quite different from recoveries in the past.” Japanese growth has generally been driven by exports, manufacturing, capital spending. “This recovery is led by domestic demand, including consumption, housing investment, and public works,” he said. Those all “have significant non-manufacturing sector activities that are very labor intensive.” That, in turn, means that labor markets have tightened faster than during prior booms — triggering higher wages, and prices faster as well.

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